AT&T (NYSE:T) Shares Up 2.9% - What's Next?

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) shares shot up 2.9% on Thursday . The company traded as high as $27.21 and last traded at $27.20. 8,266,923 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 36,631,472 shares. The stock had previously closed at $26.44.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

T has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised AT&T from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on AT&T from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on AT&T from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Cowen reaffirmed a "hold" rating on shares of AT&T in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Tigress Financial upped their target price on shares of AT&T from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, eighteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, AT&T currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $28.71.

AT&T Trading Up 2.9%

The firm has a market capitalization of $195.76 billion, a PE ratio of 18.26, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.42. The company's 50-day moving average price is $27.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a current ratio of 0.66.

AT&T (NYSE:T - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.52 by ($0.01). AT&T had a return on equity of 13.97% and a net margin of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $30.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $30.39 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that AT&T Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

AT&T Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 10th were paid a $0.2775 dividend. This represents a $1.11 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 10th. AT&T's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 68.10%.

Institutional Trading of AT&T

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of T. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of AT&T by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 651,044,650 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,411,543,000 after buying an additional 8,185,006 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in AT&T by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 163,761,301 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,719,723,000 after acquiring an additional 2,640,644 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of AT&T by 17.7% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 113,957,259 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,222,711,000 after purchasing an additional 17,177,874 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of AT&T by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 85,592,594 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,948,943,000 after purchasing an additional 5,649,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in AT&T in the fourth quarter worth about $1,858,418,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.10% of the company's stock.

AT&T Company Profile

AT&T, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of telecommunications and technology services. It operates through the Communications and Latin America segments. The Communications segment offers wireless, wireline telecom, and broadband services to businesses and consumers located in the US and businesses globally.

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